I'd like to present you with a brief history of Lode Runner. If
you're familiar with Lode Runner you will know most of this, but
if you're not familiar with Lode Runner, then this will give you
an idea of its history.
Doug Smith created Lode Runner in the early 1980s. He programmed
the game while in college (Washington) on his University's VAX 1
computer 1. In the earliest versions, Jake Peril
(the Lode Runner) faced off against evil snakes. Early on,
though, the evil snakes became evil monks and Lode Runner moved
to the Apple II.
At its core, Lode Runner consists of running around and collecting
pieces of gold. Once you have collected all of the gold in a level,
you move to the top of the level to escape. Throughout this, you must
contend with the aforementioned evil monks who themselves have a keen
interest in each level's gold (not to mention a keen interest in Jake himself!).
To combat the enemies, Jake must rely on his trusty mining laser to
trap the monks inside of holes in the ground. Often, Jake must also use
his laser to blast a path to gold.
I first played Lode Runner at a young age on the Commodore 64. The
original Lode Runner came with 150 levels to solve. As a young child,
no one could have expected me to master each and every level. But...
Okay, I didn't master them all. I don't remember how many levels I did
beat, but I did beat some of them!
Over the years, Mr. Peril continued his quest in games such as
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns and Lode Runner: The Mad Monks'
Revenge. Newer games introduced more gameplay elements such as bombs,
keys, and even snare traps. The most recent game, Lode Runner 2,
took our hero Jake into the 3rd dimension. (The game played from an
isometric perspective.) Since its release many years ago, though, fans
of Lode Runner have not seen a lot of our lode runner. Soon, that will change.
Soon, I will bring you Lode Runner X, providing Jake new tools, new tricks,
and new worlds along with smarter, more deadly enemies than ever.
1http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/misc/ldhist.html - A fun read on
the history of Lode Runner from one of the creator's friend's perspective.
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